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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERSOctober 2, 2014Clayton KershawLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question for Clayton? Q. Talking to Donnie about this, he says that you use anything you can to fuel yourself for these big starts or any start. How much what happened at the end of the post‑season last year against these guys will you use as fuel for tomorrow's start? CLAYTON KERSHAW: None. I guess the experience of it more than anything, knowing I had some successes in the post‑season last year, had some good starts, and then having the one bad one the end of the season. So you can kind of use both of those, I guess. But as far as motivation, I don't need any extra motivation. I'm trying to win a World Series here, that's plenty. Q. You and Adam are two of the top pitchers in baseball, both with great curveballs in particular. What do you admire about Adam when you watch him pitch, particularly that curveball or anything that you see? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Yeah, he competes. He's such a good competitor. I think that's what the first thing that really comes to my mind when I think about him, I've gotten to know him over the course of the last couple years and obviously a great guy. We, I love talking to him just about life on and off the field. A lot of similar qualities, I think. But it should be a fun day tomorrow. We both love to compete. I know he can hit a little bit, too, so I got to be ready for that. Q. Speaking from the experience of last year, the experience of working on three days rest a couple times, how did you feel after that experience? Was that something that is any kind of issue if you were asked to do that again this year? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't know, honestly. It's too hard for me to think about future starts. I got to think about tomorrow. I guess last year, it wasn't a problem, so we'll ‑‑ I'm going to get through tomorrow and hopefully we win the game and go from there. But, yeah, last year I was fine with it. Q. Talk about how your past experience both the good and the bad shape you. What was it like for you after that loss last year that knocked you guys out? What are you like when you lose like that? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Why doesn't anybody ask me what it feels like after a win in the post‑season? (Laughter.) It's not fun. I think especially just because it is your last start. That's the hardest part about it. Your season ends. You always, I always, it always hangs with you until your last start or until your next start. I had to wait a long time for that next one. Thankfully, it came, but it's not like I thought about it every day in the off season. But it's not like one day shake off thing, it takes a little while. I don't think about it too much now. Different team over there, different team over here for us. But it will feel good to get back out there in the post‑season for sure. Q. 3:30 start tomorrow. Shadows are going to be a factor‑‑ CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't think so. Q. You don't use that as a pitcher? You don't think that certain pitches? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Do you see it out there right now? It's 3:30 and there's no shadows. I think maybe 5 or 5:30 there might be some shadows, but hopefully it's the 8th inning by then and I'm good to go. But I don't know. (Laughter.) Q. Donnie said that talking to the analytics department they wanted to devise a plan to have you throw less pitches this year coming off of a longer season last year. Did they discuss that with you and what did you take away from that? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Stats can do that? That's awesome. No, I never, they didn't tell me to get hurt, if that's what you're asking. But I don't know if that's going to make a difference or not. I feel pretty much the same health‑wise as I did last year this year. Arm feels great. Strength everything physically feels really good. So I felt that way last year, too. So I'm not sure if that makes any difference. Q. As a group, do you feel like you guys are better than you were at this time last year and do you feel like you're playing better going into the post‑season than you were last year? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't really remember how we were playing last year, honestly. I think that, to talk about this year, we're swinging the bats really well. We ended the year on a really good note. A lot of guys you see up‑and‑down our lineup batting averages, home runs, RBIs, we have all that. So that's really good confidence for us going into the post‑season. But as far as compared to last year, I don't really remember. Q. I know you're looking forward to tomorrow, but have you had any sort of chance to put in perspective what you did this season and the kind of numbers you put up and how consistent you were across the board practically every time you went out and pitched? CLAYTON KERSHAW: It's just too hard to think about that stuff. I try ‑‑ there's a time for that and I'll definitely look back on the season when it's over. But right now it's a whole new season and nobody cares about what you did in the regular season and I know that better than anybody. So that's, it will be fun to look back hopefully if we win and if we don't, it won't be. Q. Can you talk about this team, the camaraderie and the goal of winning a World Series in Los Angeles for the first time since 1988. CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't think we think about that. Any team the goal is to win a World Series. So that's plenty of motivation. We don't need the history of it. Obviously, we know what it's going to mean to the fans that haven't had that here in a long time, if we were to win it. But for us, we just try to win. That's all we can do. 1988 and before, there's a lot of us that don't even remember that. So that's not our focus. But at the same time, it's, it will be pretty fun to come back here and get to celebrate with the fans, if that happens. Q. To clarify about my earlier question, neither Donnie nor anybody in the analytics department discussed that plan with you before the season? CLAYTON KERSHAW: No. Q. There's been the big debate as far as who is the better pitcher between you and Adam, but who is the better hitter among you two guys? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Oh, yeah, I mean that's a very fair question. I think that he's probably got me beat. A lot of extra base hits. If I didn't have that triple the last game, I don't think I would have an extra base hit the whole year. So I think he's probably got me beat. He got a lot of RBIs this year. It's just, I would of to take him, I guess, him and Greinke are probably right up there with Bumgarner for me. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thanks, Clayton. CLAYTON KERSHAW: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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